Working magic with petition papers and sigils
Petition Papers
Petition papers and name papers are slips of paper that you write a person’s name on or a symbol or sigil or short phrase corresponding with the intent of your spell work. Mostly the petition papers and name papers are placed under a candle, added to a mojo bag or bottle. Name papers will have a person’s name on, the intended recipient of the spell, whilst a petition paper will have a wish or desire on.
You can add to the oomph of the spell by using coloured ink to write on your paper, so for instance black ink for protection and reversing spells, or green ink for money spells. In traditional hoodoo practice only red or black ink would be used, and often it would be dove blood, dragon blood or bat blood ink. You can use real blood but please don’t kill animals just to use their blood in magic. You could ask at your local butcher shop, although I think they might struggle to supply dragon blood, but you never know…Dragon blood ink can be created by putting a few drops of dragon blood (which is actually tree resin) essential oil into coloured ink.
What paper you use is up to you, you can tear a small piece from a brown paper bag or a sheet of printer paper or you could use handmade parchment. Using paper with torn edges allows the magic to seep out.
Use scissors for banishing petitions or for cutting ties with someone or something.
As a general guide for using petition papers you would write the person’s name or your wish on the slip of paper three times, then turn the paper ninety degrees clockwise and write the name or wish again three times over the top of the first ones. The petition paper should then be dressed with a suitable oil blend.
The petition paper is then folded, to draw things to you the paper should be folded towards you, to banish something fold the paper away from you, either way keep folding the paper until you can fold it no more.
The petition paper can then be placed under a candle or in a spell bag or a bottle.
Sigils
Sigil magic is very easy to work and requires very few items – just paper and a pen or even a handful of salt to draw the sigil on the ground with.
Simply put, a sigil is a symbol that is drawn to represent a specific desire or goal that you would like to manifest into your life. They are a point to help focus magical energy for your intent.
Start by sitting quietly somewhere that you won’t be distracted or disturbed. If you prefer you can create a sacred circle and/or light a candle and some incense to help you focus. Clear your mind as well as you can then focus on your intent.
Write down your goal or desire onto the piece of paper but only use one sentence to sum it up. Be specific. So, I might write “This book will be a huge success” (well, every little helps, doesn’t it?). Keep the words positive and succinct. Next you need to strike out the vowels from the sentence, so mine would look like this:
Thsbkwllbhgsccss
Then remove any duplicate letters, mine would then look like this:
Thsbkwlgc
Now for the interesting part; you need to create a design using just the remaining letters. Write them out in a spiral, a square, over the top of each other – it doesn’t matter how. Be guided by your intuition and create a pleasing image with them. Don’t stress too much over it, allow your mind to wander and your pen to doodle.
The finished design will be your very own sigil. Now you need to activate the magic. The best way to do this is to burn the paper with the sigil drawn on it. Light the corner of the paper on a candle flame and drop it into a cauldron. The magic is activated and released. You could also drop the paper into running water or bury it but I find that the latter methods produce slower results. Experiment and see what works for you.
Click on the video link below to see me chat about petitions and work with sigil magic
Information taken from Kitchen Witchcraft: Spells & Charms by Rachel Patterson
Originally posted on Beneath the Moon, Patheos Pagan - 19.6.20
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